Rolf den Nieuwenboer

Rolf started his career in commercial roles and progressed to the global role of Value Chain Improvement Manager for one of the best corporate examples of Lean deployment through people, Arvin Meritor.  This led to a 25 year career as a hands-on consultant working on strategy development, value chain cost reductions, process improvements and leadership deployment.

Throughout his career he worked in or with companies in the Medical Technology, Food and Beverage, Health and Personal Care, Steel, Automotive and Oil sectors and has led 200+ Kaizen workshops both in office and shop-floor environments.

SELECTED RESULTS:

  • European wide Lean Leadership deployment programme for a global food and beverage manufacturer focusing on office processes. 

    • US$ 39 million annual cost savings by transferring knowledge to 30+ Lean leaders and implementing a Lean deployment strategy. 

  • For a medical technology company, conducted a series of 15 Kaizen workshops at their suppliers focused on cost reduction throughout the supply chain while juggling the regulatory demands with the need for waste reduction

    • US$ 2.3M on annual cost reduction throughout the supply chain via packaging design, transportation and internal logistics, warehouse design and supply chain consolidation.

  • Guided site implementations of 5S, 20 Keys improvement planning, Lean Daily Management, development of key performance indicators (KPIs), value stream mapping, facilitation of Kaizen events

  • Optimization of Site Relocation/Integration – Projects:

    • 16% scrap reduction, 17% rework reduction and 21% increase in asset utilization via base layout re-configuration projects in Europe, Middle East, Australia and Africa, allowing inclusion of additional business lines, reduction in process cycle times and increases in service quality.

    • Conducted multiple Lean audits for facilities under construction to ensure alignment to optimized workflow (1 directional flow) along the value stream, as well as optimizing the workshop layout for the highest level of productivity.

  • Lean Leadership deployment programme:

    • US$ 2.8M savings in the first year via knowledge transfer to 10 lean leaders and implementation of a series of Kaizen workshops

    • 8 months’ reduction in new product introduction to market and

    • 25% increase in product quality via 8 plant audits to assess progress on Lean Journey, followed by deploying a strategic plan for each plant which was linked by an analysis of the R&D department

  • Inventory and asset management:

    • 30% reduction in counting process cycle time and

    • 40% increase in inventory accuracy by streamlined counting and reconciliation process and improved status identification systems 

Anthony Collins